It's time to vote for the winners of the Fifth Annual People's Choice Awards!

2008 has been a terrific year for DROD holds. I'm very impressed with all the holds that have been nominated for this year's awards. Now that architects and players have become familiar with all the new TCB game elements, these holds really show the range of puzzles and atmosphere you can create with them. If you have limited time for playing DROD, these are the holds to play.

This year, we also have the new DROD RPG game, and there are already some very creative and surprisingly diverse RPG holds to check out as well.

Creating a great hold is a process that requires cleverness, creativity, artistry, a sense of humor, patience, persistence, and a love of the game. This year, our forum's architects have given all these things to create new holds enjoyed by our community. Please take some time to reward them, by voting for your favorites.

Oh, and remember, once you push the Vote button at the bottom of the poll, you can't go back and edit your choices, so please double-check your selections.

×Abbyzzmal as Tendry in Tendry's Tale - This is the new DROD RPG game. Download the demo version of Tendry's Tale here.
Elfstone as Rashonwe singing in Castle Steele
Snacko as Beethro in Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom - This is a Smitemaster's Selection Hold that can be purchased here. Here is Snacko's public audition for the role.

By the way: For ErikH2000 the deal is we do not take Dugans Dungeon into account, right? If we did I would have voted for him, since there obviously aren't any hold that's more important to DROD as a whole. Without it there would be no DROD.

quote:Blondbeard wrote:
By the way: For ErikH2000 the deal is we do not take Dugans Dungeon into account, right?

That's correct, for the same reason The City Beneath and Journey to Rooted Hold were left out of previous People's Choice Awards. These awards are all about encouraging amateur architects to open up the editor and build cool stuff, not the professionals (who we already know are awesome).

If Erik doesn't win on the basis of Smallsome Swicks and Down the Grimmish Hole, what do you say we honor him by naming the award after him? Instead of the "Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award," we can have the "Erik Hermansen Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award." That way, we'd remember his lifetime of contributions to DROD every year when these awards come around.

I feel like giving that award to Erik would be akin to stealing it from the community. That doesn't mean that I think he's not talented, because he obviously is. I just feel like we would be snubbing another very talented architect in a very big way if we did.

Just to re-iterate, Erik is eligible for the award, but only on the basis of his user-made holds, Smallsome Swicks and Down the Grimmish Hole. His ground-breaking work on King Dugan's Dungeon does not count here, as these awards have never included the official holds.

If King Dugan's Dungeon did count, then you would have been choosing between Erik and Doom in the Third Annual People's Choice Awards, the first year the Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award was introduced. Or, if Doom really does have more of a lifetime of architectural achievement, then you would have been choosing between Erik and Larry in the Fourth Annual People's Choice Awards.

I understand that everyone wants to honor Erik, especially since he retired from Caravel this year. In my personal opinion, "fixing him up" with the third lifetime architectural achievement award, after Doom and Larry already won it, is not enough of an honor. Erik is our creator. We wouldn't have this game or this community or these awards without his work and ideas. In my opinion, we need to find another more appropriate way to honor him.

An idea: If you have an architect wothy of a Lifetime Architectural Achievement Award you want to make it as easy as possible for said person to produce holds in the future (IMO). Therefore I think a prize for that award could include CaravelNet (for x years, so that the person could make beta boards, if he/she wanted to). It could even be somewhat profitable for the CaravelTeam, since such an architect could very well be a part of producing future SMS holds.[Last edited by Blondbeard at 11-27-2008 03:13 PM]

Nice ideas. I approve of the idea to give free CaravelNet service to architects who win the Lifetime Achievement Award. I would agree to take care of that -- just send me the winner's info. I'm fine with applying this retroactively to past winners of this category too so they may continue to create!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.[Last edited by mrimer at 11-29-2008 03:20 AM]

One question: are there any guidelines on voting in categories you have been nominated in yourself? I was planning on just selecting no opinion, but if CSR as FAPCHA coordinator has any advice, I'd like to hear.

quote:Jutt wrote:
One question: are there any guidelines on voting in categories you have been nominated in yourself?

Nope, there are no guidelines. You are a well-respected forum member, Jutt, and your opinions are important. Please feel free to vote for the nominees that you honestly believe are the best in each category.

I'm not sure that we need voting guidelines, since the members of this forum tend to be exceptionally intelligent, mature, and tasteful. But if guidelines need to be added, I think we'll have to put that on the to-do list for next year. Many people have already voted this year. I'm fairly confident that we already have some nominees who have avoided voting for themselves and other nominees who haven't. I'm not sure how I would enforce voting guidelines if we had any. I am not able to see how individual forum members voted in this poll.

Blondbeard, regarding prizes, this is an unofficial contest (look ma, no sticky!) so it is up to us to provide them. I don't want to say too much about prizes at this point. I will see what I can do about getting a CNet subscription to this year's winner of the Erik Hermansen Award. I hate to add to the workload of those who are already drowning in their own to-do lists, but I think I will need the help of a forum admin for that.

I'm bumping this poll up to the top because there are less than 24 hours left for last-minute votes. While the winners in some categories are pretty much decided at this point, a last minute voter could change the outcome of some others. If there aren't any new votes that resolve the current ties, I'll post the tiebreaker poll tomorrow after this one times out.

EDIT: The tiebreaker poll is here.[Last edited by CuriousShyRabbit at 12-15-2008 08:23 AM]

So many great holds were released this year, perhaps we should have had more categories, so they all could win something. It looks like there's enough interest in a "best single room or puzzle" category to add that one for next year, along with some new RPG categories. This would give very short but very good holds more chance to win something. Also, it might be worth expanding the "best mod" category to include more graphical creations.

A big thank you to all who participated in the nominations and voting process. More people participated this year than in any of the four previous years. 19 people helped with the nominations and more than 40 people took the time to vote. With this much voting participation, this year's winners can be especially proud of their achievements.

I'm afraid this is because our official Marquee Poster's CaravelNet subscription has run out, and he can no longer see the text in game. Perhaps you, or another person involved with this month's contest could PM an appropriate new marquee to mrimer. I'm sorry that I don't know enough about this month's contest to do it myself.

quote:CuriousShyRabbit wrote:
I'm afraid this is because our official Marquee Poster's CaravelNet subscription has run out, and he can no longer see the text in game. Perhaps you, or another person involved with this month's contest could PM an appropriate new marquee to mrimer. I'm sorry that I don't know enough about this month's contest to do it myself.

Sure, forumites are always welcome to suggest appropriate, current news for the marquee.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

quote:CuriousShyRabbit wrote:
I'm afraid this is because our official Marquee Poster's CaravelNet subscription has run out, and he can no longer see the text in game. Perhaps you, or another person involved with this month's contest could PM an appropriate new marquee to mrimer. I'm sorry that I don't know enough about this month's contest to do it myself.

Sure, forumites are always welcome to suggest appropriate, current news for the marquee.